ANT!!!

In the past, my posts have focused on the big two; well, I want to buck that trend and go Indie on you. No, not Image, I’m talking super Indie, Arcana and the title Ant in particular. Though this book was never a smash hit, it did have a cult following mostly due to great cover work. The creator/artist Mario Gully was always good for some provocative poses but early work by J. Scott Campbell and Ebas were the standouts of this run. Arcana published this book before it was sold to Image and then Big City Comics.

Arcana Studio Presents: FCBD 2004

In some realms this book is considered the 1st appearance of Ant. Although it is a free comic book day edition (usually given out in May), this book has a cover date of 1/2004 and pre-dates Ant # 1 (Arcane Studios, 3/2004)

Ant # 1 (A-reg, B-Special, D-Sketch)

Often listed as the 1st appearance of Ant, but more importantly it boasts a cover by Campbell in a regular, sketch variant, and special edition. The hardest to find of these is the RRP Summit Red Foil Logo variant thought to have a print run of 250.

Ant # 1H “Break the Curse”/Boston edition

This Boston variant edition is SUPER HTF in high grade due to the all black cover and cheaper paper stock used in these Indie books.

Ant # 2 (A-reg., 2-Sketch)

More J. Scott Campbell goodness is on display in a regular and sketch variant cover.

Ant # 3B

Eric Basaldua (AKA Ebas) is on cover duty for issue #3. This is some early Ebas work and may have been a reason he got the Grimm Fairy Tales variant gig.

Ant # 4 (B-reg., C-Sketch)

A better cover than issue # 3 for Ebas and a sketch edition.

For completeness, below are all the covers by creator/artist Mario Gully.